Thoughts and inspiration

Month

August 2010

As we walk through this life many things come at us and we really don’t know how to “organize” the pain, disappointment,rejections,fear and many unfair things that happen to us. We live in such a fallen world, have you ever thought about what it would be like to not have these” organizational ” problems? When God created man and woman there was none of this, but with the great temptation of the enemy and the flesh. The desire to hoard came right at the beginning of time. Genesis 3:4,5 “The serpent said to the woman, “you surely will not die! For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When I read this I think how stupid, they wanted to know evil, but it was the dear old flesh wanting something that was not good for it. How sad is the human race without Jesus, We really can’t take care of our hoarding issues without Jesus in our lives. I can imagine when Jesus said “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth…” (Matt. 6:19-21) He was looking compassionately on everyone, knowing hoarding had messed up the perfect connection between God and man. “Treasures” are different for everyone, whatever it is ,will take your time, your energy, your focus and your commitment. Jesus came to give us freedom from sin and things holding us captive. The day Adam and Eve fell was so sad. Jesus had to move into our hoarding world to defeat death so we could come back to the sweet fellowship with God. When Jesus said ” store up for yourselves treasures in heaven”. He knew He was making a clear path for us to step out of our hoarding ways. Heaven has plenty of room and no evil!!! How are you storing up treasure in Heaven? Have you given God the things that are taking over in you? What is the gentle Councilor, Holy Spirit saying to you today? Whatever level of clutter you see in your soul, I know the Holy Spirit is faithful to help you remove it!!

Are you ready for Part 2 of this awesome topic? All morning I have been thinking about this and I have written 3 pages of thoughts but now I have to send it to the world wide web. I mentioned Matthew 6:19-21 Jesus was instructing the disciples and us, before this part he talked about fasting. He knew we needed some instruction for our flesh. Our flesh is always longing to be satisfied and some of that is good and some of it is not good for us. As I watched that “hoarding” show the Holy Spirit spoke to me in many ways. First i felt so sad for the people and moved by their pain. The Holy Spirit reminded me that their problem was revealed to the whole viewing community but there is a bunch of us with hoarding tendencies (not material things) that you can’t see and you pray no one will ever see. Next feeling was I’m so glad I don’t have that problem where again the Holy Spirit said the heart can have deep hoarding issues are you ready for the Counselor to come in and help remove those things. I saw the mess inside their homes and some of it flowed even to their yards. I think we think our hoarding will not affect those around and no one will know what we are dealing with but by accident it will come out the front door(our mouth). Of course they never intended to draw attention to themselves but because they never took care of the problem it began to be more noticable as years went by. When the Holy Spirit speaks to us about some bitterness, fear, worry, jealousy, unforgiveness, and dark sins, if we don’t began to work on getting rid of it, it begins to control us and clutter up our soul. Our flesh begins to move in and convince us that we need to fill up with artificial happiness. ” Maybe if i give my flesh what it longs for, it will be ‘happy’ and everything will be back to normal”. unfortunately this only compounds the resistants and fill our soul with what it really doesn’t need. We need to get rid of the hoarding of what is not good for us and our families, and begin to store up the things that really add to us, add benefits to those we love, and add to the Kingdom of God. I’ll write some more tomorrow on this.

Hoarding = A person who engages in compulsive hoarding is commonly said to be a “pack rat“, in reference to that animal’s characteristic hoarding. A&E and TLC networks.

Last week we were at my mom & dad’s and we watched a few episodes of “Hoarding”. I really couldn’t believe my eyes as I watched the sad sad stories of people’s lives that can barely live in their homes because of the clutter and trash in it they cannot part with. It has me thinking about our spiritual “hoarding” we do.You may have had this happen to you or you were the one not sharing. Either way our dear old flesh started hoarding when we were very young!

Before the “Hoarding” shows were ever thought of, we can read about the Israelites’ lesson on hoarding. Exodus 16 they are in the Desert of Sin and they were grumbling to Moses about not having enough food. V.4 God explains how He will give them bread from heaven “Manna”, thin flakes like frost. They were only to take an omer of it (about 2 quarts). Just get what they needed and not keep it until morning. Verse 29 says some paid no attention and kept it until morning and it was full of maggots and began to smell! That would be nice to wake up to! The amazing thing was for the Sabbath they could get enough for 2 days! God was teaching them that He would provide for them. Do you know God provided for them manna. Manna for 40 years? What has God provided from Heaven for you? Are you hoarding and it is rotting? I think of Matthew 6:19-21. There is a bad hoarding and a good hoarding here. What are you doing? This is only part 1 of what I have been pondering for a week.

Alright today i had an idea for this blog , but when i was reading the Word this morning God moved my heart to something different! I am going to be open and share the challenge the Holy Spirit spoke to me while in my quite time! I am still reading in Jeremiah(chapt.29-31) good stuff! I love learning about how our God interacts with his people!! We serve a mighty powerful God!!!! AMEN? It was when i turned to the New Testament reading that the Holy Spirit began to move my heart. He is gentle and doesn’t condemn but wants us to see where we can grow closer to Him. I am so thankful for this!!! I so want to be closer to God and this is a day to come closer. I believe God always wants to share with us but it our choice. Well, today when i read 1john 3( which i read many times) the challenge came to me for loving greater. This is not easy to do in our own strength but when the Holy Spirit shows us how then wow, what peace and ease it is!! Here is 1john3:18-20 “Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.v.19 this then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything.” Verses 21-24 remind us to ask , i believe here it means to ask for help to love greater. We can’t do it alone and God knows that is why we are encouraged to “ask”. Then we can obey his command”to love one another”. I was so reminded to love greater through Him today. My flesh will fail in this area because i will always have feelings of disappointment on how others should love me so i can love them. These are feelings and the truth is v.16″This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers(sisters).” I am humbled with this verse and my prayer today is “Father may i love without strings attached to how i feel”! I pray today you feel Christ’s love for you and give His love to others. Of course this whole chapter has so much in it, you will be blessed if you read it! May the Holy Spirit move you today too! I have all confidence He will when you ask 🙂

“……God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. v.6 If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness we lie and do not live by the truth. v7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.”

Father , help us to walk in you so we can know your light!!! I love the fellowship you have given to your body!!!Thank-you for washing us with your blood Jesus!!!! Please fill your people today with Your light!!!! Replace any fear with Your peace, Show your hope where disappointment is!!! Strengthen my brothers & sisters today so they can walk in Your light today with all confidence!!! It is You who we long to honor and adore with our lives!!! Please give great Victories today as many choice to walk in You!!! Amen

“Praise the Lord! How blessed is the man(woman) who fears the Lord, Who greatly delights in His commandments. v2. His(her) descendants will be mighty on the earth; The generation of the upright will be blessed.”

I stand on this promise that David talked about here! First, I too must Praise our Lord for all the good seasons and milestone in my children’s life. I do at times get very sad about the changes that seem to happen over night in them ! I remember back to the time when I felt like Hannah in the Bible, begging God for children!! What joy when we found out we were having a child and this one was going to make it! Then God blessed us with two more,Wow!! The yearning and desire for children, surpassed any thought of them growing up and leaving me!! It was about 6 years ago at family camp i realized my days were numbered for a solid time with my children. I discovered i had work to do! My greatest desire for them is to see them serve God with their whole heart!!!! I took this deep to heart. That is where this promise comes in ,If i delight in God’s commandments and fear the Lord. Then God will help my desire come about!! I know this doesn’t mean I wake up tomorrow and they are mighty and everything is perfect for them. It means my part in all of this is very important and my trust for Him has to be great!! So here we are at another BIG milestone in Abby’s life, Wednesday she became a legal driver without me in the car and in a few hours she will take off to Haiti. I will continue to walk with these verses insight & knowing His plan is the best for my children! My heart is excited and heavy at the same time. I never really experienced this until God blessed me with children. So my fear is in the Lord, not in man and there is where it will stay. I will continue to delight in obeying what God says. This will not come without lots of time in His presence and that is where i long to be, so if you see me and i look a bit tired this week it maybe i have had to be with Him a lot so my fear stayed in Him.

“Should you not fear me?” declares the Lord. “Should you not tremble in my presence? I made the sand a boundary for the sea, an everlasting barrier it cannot cross. The waves may roll, but they cannot prevail; they may roar, but they cannot cross it.”

Yes, Lake Michigan is beautiful! The hot sun and sand make it even better to relax in!!! I am very thankful for our family time! I know our time is short with our children. So the time we set aside with them means a great deal to me & Nathan! A rest and a treasure in my heart of memories. I believe this was a very spiritual thing to do!! God has given us all eyes and ears to use for r&r. We can take a sigh of relief and just drink in His Creation,Listening and seeing Him in it all!! He is so close and real!!! That is relaxing and restful to our souls!!!! Even if we don’t have time and $ to go somewhere awesome and well advertised all we need to do is step out and look up!! The clouds say it all!! He is Alive and Well and Vast in giving us peace in our souls. Look up my friend and have r&r today!

I have been reading in John and Jeremiah the past few days. Many times I write down my thoughts on paper but today I get to share in “word”.

I am so in love with Jesus and reading about him amazes me again and again. He knew just what to say to the critical Jews. His words are always to the point of the issue and bring light to the human selfish ways. He loved so much that He brought it straight to the truth, with no dancing around making people feel right in their arrogant opinions.

Today , I read John 13. The beginning of this chapter just caught my attention and thoughts for quite awhile. Verse 1 “It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.”

He didn’t show it by handing out a bunch of money and saying now you don’t have to worry about money problems. He didn’t give them full and complete health so they wouldn’t have to ever experience pain again. Jesus didn’t give them super power to defete and reign over all nations.

Jesus knew He was leaving the earth soon. He knew what these “His own” wanted but He took this time. He planned it out to show them “the full extent of his love”. He saw their greatest need and it moved Him to serve them. He knew there was a trader in the room but that didn’t stop Him from showing His love for them. He loved with no strings attached and didn’t give in to the pressure of what the disciples “wanted” in their own ideas. His leadership was a great challenge for them and for us!

To serve where need is and what really shows Christ love! I am moved and awed by Our Savior!! May I follow His example more!

Verse 15 “I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”